Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
The British Participation Survey, 2011 project was motivated by an interest in the highly topical issue of popular disaffection with representative democracy in countries such as Britain. It hypothesizes that there are two quite distinct groups of 'disconnected' or alienated citizen, whom might be termed 'dissatisfied' and 'stealth' democrats, and that the commonly proposed remedy of engagement in high-intensity forms of participation will only work for the former of these. Building on previous research conducted in the USA, the data provides new evidence as to the nature of popular discontent with politics and the potential for enhancing the practice and legitimacy of representative democracy through greater involvement of citizens in forms of deliberative political participation.
Main Topics:
The dataset consists of 293 variables pertaining chiefly to the attitudes and activities of British adults in respect of political participation. Additional variables included in the dataset relate to demographic background, partisan preferences, left-right ideology, social liberalism-authoritarianism, voting choice at the 2010 general election, current vote preference as of July 2011, attitude towards the AV referendum held in May 2011, political efficacy, political interest and political trust of respondents are all included. Measures relating to the concepts of 'stealth democracy', 'sunshine democracy' and conflict avoidance are also incorporated in the data. The data are weighted by standard demographic factors, partisan identification and turnout at the 2010 general election to be representative of the British electorate. Standard Measures Standard Market Research Society social grade classification A-E. Many Likert-type attitudinal variables in the dataset, designed to tap respondent's position on left-right, liberty-authority, political trust, efficacy and interest. Questions about respondent's willingness to/actual practice of undertake various forms of political participation (voting, campaigning, donating, signing petitions, taking part in deliberative exercises, etc.).
Online panel.
Self-completion
Web-based survey
